Tampa Bay Regional Operations Center (TBROC)

The Tampa Bay Regional Operations Center serves eight coastal and inland counties in West Central Florida and includes field offices in Brooksville, located along Florida’s Nature Coast, and Lakeland, home to Florida Southern College, a National Historic Landmark which features the renowned architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright.
 
The Tampa Bay area is home to one of FDLE’s first regional offices, offering investigative services since 1969, with independent laboratory services in operation since 1970. Investigative and laboratory services were consolidated in 1991 after construction was completed on TBROC’s current facility, the Ed Blackburn Building, named for FDLE’s fifth commissioner who also served as Hillsborough County Sheriff from 1953 to 1965.
 
TBROC agents and analysts work a variety of criminal investigations focusing on violent crime, economic crime, organized crime, targeted violence, intelligence and domestic security. The Tampa Bay Crime Lab processes evidence for local law enforcement agencies throughout the state.
 
Members in the Tampa Bay region, working jointly with local sheriffs and police departments, have significantly contributed to the resolution of several infamous homicide cases during its history. TBROC members assisted in investigating 1989 Pinellas County tourist murderer Oba Chandler; 1997 Polk County mass murderer Nelson Serrano; Jessica Lunsford’s abductor-murderer John Evander Couey in 2005; and Tampa’s 2017 Seminole Heights serial killer Howell Donaldson III.
 
TBROC has also led major fraud investigations, resulting in the arrest of criminal actors residing in the region, including a joint investigation into the $6 million real estate Ponzi scheme of 2014; the 2020 “Bit Con” Twitter hacker case; and the 2021 phishing scheme against the Texas Department of Public Safety.